Kang I-yul now found Yu Seong-woo intriguing rather than uncomfortable.
He was slow, but somehow he kept up with everything.
And by the end, he always got it exactly right.
“Could I, maybe……”
Seong-woo began hesitantly.
“Would it be okay if I watched you practice from behind and followed along?”
‘What difference would watching from behind…… make?’
Still, a debt was a debt. He might as well repay it properly in one go and be done with it.
“……Yes.”
“Great!”
But something was strange.
Seong-woo didn't stand directly behind him.
One step, then another.
He measured out his steps and chose his position with care.
It wasn't hard to guess what he was doing.
‘Trying to look good on camera, I guess.’
Seong-woo wasn't a fool. He'd joined a survival show as soon as he became a trainee, and he'd already made an impression.
More tellingly, I-yul had seen the way his eyes darted over the cameras' positions.
That hadn't been a coincidence.
‘He's crafty.’
But in this business, that wasn't a flaw.
‘That's how you survive.’
Just then—
As I-yul was about to step forward, Seong-woo caught hold of him.
“Why is that?”
“Y-you've gone too far. Could you come back one step?”
“……Pardon?”
It was only one step. How was that too far?
“Sorry, my, uh…… eyesight's a little bad.”
Ridiculous. I-yul narrowed his eyes.
From someone who had checked the cameras' positions so quickly?
‘Could it be……?’
I-yul swept his gaze around the room. One camera was aimed straight at them.
‘Wow-’
He immediately took a step back.
One step. That one little step changed the frame.
His instincts, honed over many long years as a trainee, told him something.
He should listen to this older guy, at least for now.
***
A composition that naturally caught both of us in the same frame. I'd chosen the spot after using the bathroom as an excuse to leave and even checking the camera feed.
The music started again.
I-yul repeated the choreography in front of the mirror. Even though he'd danced it dozens of times already, he was as full of energy as the first time.
I followed him from behind.
The angle of his toes, waist, shoulders, even his hands. My body naturally mirrored his movements. That was the second reason I'd asked I-yul about choreography I already knew.
I'd practiced this choreography thousands of times. Since I'd never learned to dance, I'd picked up the movements solely by watching I-yul's signal song fancam again and again.
It was embarrassing even to call them ‘dance lines,’ but all my movements had naturally come to resemble his.
Still, it had been quite a while since I'd nuked that account, so I had to practice like hell again. As soon as the music ended, we started over. When it ended again, we started again.
Sweat streamed down me and my thighs burned, but- I didn't stop.
Whenever I thought I couldn't go on, I looked at I-yul's cast. And I remembered that final moment I never wanted to recall, even if it killed me.
I had to survive. And I had to save him.
How much time had passed? The practice room had gone quiet. Everyone must have gone to dinner; only the two of us were left. Of course, the cameras were still rolling.
“Ha…….”
I sank to the floor. My breathing came in ragged, tearing gasps. It felt as if my whole body, not just my lungs, was breathing out hot air.
I-yul, on the other hand, was still in front of the mirror.
Not even a full day had passed, but he'd already perfected the moves. That must have been thanks to his many long years as a trainee. I-yul, who had reportedly started training in elementary school, was also known for coming from a major agency.
Watching him, I realized something.
‘This isn't enough.’
Right now, I ‘knew’ all the choreography. But memorizing it wasn't enough. Time was limited, and I had only one chance.
The mission songs to come wouldn't have choreography I'd already memorized like the signal song. When I got an opportunity like this, I had to make a proper impression.
The survival show wouldn't wait for me.
Of course, practicing all day had gradually made me better. The more I moved, the more my body seemed to remember the past.
So what I needed now was-
‘Time.’
More time than everyone else. Time to get it wrong, correct it, and carve it into my body all over again.
The moment my thoughts became clear, the status window began to shine.
[SP 235]
I stared at the number for a moment, then spoke slowly.
“Right.”
Now I understood why I hadn't been able to create an item last night, no matter how hard I tried.
Back then, my wish had been vague. I'd wanted anything that ‘might help,’ without even knowing what I needed.
But now it was different.
“Bathroom break.”
I muttered it and slipped naturally out of the practice room.
The bathroom was the only place without a camera. I locked the door, just in case.
‘Can't be too careful.’
Standing in front of the sink, I slowly steadied my breathing.
My whole body ached. Every muscle was screaming in its own way, and the soles of my feet burned.
But I knew exactly what I needed.
“Create item.”
The status window appeared.
▶Item name: _______
▶Effect: _______
This time I didn't hesitate.
An item that was simple, clear, and whose effect was obvious from its name.
“Time-Reversing Hourglass.”
A moment of silence. Nothing happened.
‘Did it fail again?’
Just then—
My palm grew warm. A faint light began gathering at my fingertips.
The light slowly took shape. Clear glass, with fine sand trickling down inside it. A small but finely crafted hourglass appeared in my palm.
[※Item creation successful]
▶Item name: Time-Reversing Hourglass
▶Effect: Turning the hourglass rewinds a certain amount of time.
I gripped the hourglass. But nothing appeared in the mirror.
“So I'm the only one who can see it.”
That was a relief. I didn't want to look like a madman endlessly flipping an hourglass when there was nothing there.
“……Good.”
Feeling much lighter, I opened the practice room door. As expected, I-yul was just as he'd been. He was repeating the choreography without pause.
I watched him move for a moment, then asked carefully,
“I-yul, was this how you did it a moment ago?”
I moved, trying my best to recall his movements.
“Hmm, you're a little stiff. Instead of tensing your whole arm-”
I studied his movements, then turned the hourglass behind my back.
SHHK-
Only I could hear it.
A strange sensation swept over me for an instant. As if a video were being rewound, I-yul and everything around him returned frame by frame to how they'd been a moment earlier.
‘Wow-’
Exactly thirty seconds ago.
I remembered the days when I'd broken I-yul's fancams down frame by frame and replayed them, and a dry laugh escaped me.
“Hmm, you're a little stiff. Instead of tensing your whole arm-”
The same words, the same move, the same timing.
I watched his movements again.
Then I flipped the hourglass once more.
SHHK-
Another thirty seconds back. The same move, the same explanation.
I-yul's response didn't change. Perhaps the hourglass worked by trapping us in a time loop while it was in effect.
At first, I simply followed along.
The second time, I watched the timing.
The third, I checked where to put my strength.
The tenth time-
‘Ah.’
I understood.
The scrape of my sneaker soles against the floor, the tremor in my muscles, the feeling of running out of breath.
It all accumulated.
After repeating it about fifty times, I began to develop the faintest hint of ‘dance lines.’
‘Will this do?’
I turned the hourglass one last time.
“How about this?”
My movements were much smoother. This time, I didn't flip the hourglass.
“……That is much better.”
So this was what it felt like to be full without eating. I'd repeated the same move dozens of times just to hear those two words.
At the same time, my legs buckled. The muscle pain hit me all at once.
“Ugh.”
My whole body ached. Only time had gone backward; my fatigue remained.
‘Of course it isn't free.’
Naturally, it wasn't an item I could use without limit.
“……Shall we move on?”
He was still blunt, but he never taught me carelessly.
“Oh, am I good enough to learn the next move now?”
“…….”
‘Too soon for that kind of joke, I guess.’
It didn't matter. For a trainee with an uncertain career ahead of him, this much kindness made him an angel.
The next move was even more complicated than the last. But now I felt more anticipation than worry. If the last move took fifty tries, would a hundred be enough for this one?
I-yul asked me again.
“……Shall we try it?”
“Yeah!”
SHHK- I flipped the hourglass behind my back again.
***
I wanted to practice more.
But.
“Everyone, let's head to the dorm!”
Filming took priority over practice.
They had to shoot us arriving at the dorm, after all.
“Wow…….”
“We get to stay here?”
Exclamations broke out all around.
A spotless new building rose before us, with a lobby maintained like a hotel's. Filming equipment had already been set up at the entrance.
“Wow, it's huge…….”
“How many people to a room?”
Nix Entertainment had rented an entire serviced apartment building for a short term just for this survival show.
It was also why Boys Code had been filmed on such a tight schedule.
‘How much must all this cost?’
“Four to a room. Check your names and go in.”
A staff member pointed to the doors.
“Now, let's head over naturally in pairs.”
‘Nothing natural about saying that-’
I silently prayed I'd be assigned with at least one member of Impacter. Anyone but Go Jae-seong, of course.
And heaven was on my side.
[Han Sang-yun/Choi Su-hyeok/Yu Seong-woo/Ji Dong-seok]
‘Yes!’
Han Sang-yun!
He was one of the few adult trainees and had played the ‘gentle leader’ throughout the show. He'd ultimately become Impacter's leader, too. After our debut, fans said he had the kind of face that would sail through meeting the parents.
‘And there's something even more important.’
If I got on Sang-yun's good side, I'd be a step closer to debuting. Years of practice had made him an ‘all-rounder’ who performed above the basic standard in dance, singing, and performance alike. To the company executives, he was a ‘trainee they could trust with anything.’
I opened the door in high spirits. But then—
“……Wow.”
I came, I saw, I was horrified.
Suitcases sprawled across the floor, clothes spilling out of them. The two who'd arrived first, apparently friends, were sitting on one lower bunk and giggling. While scattering snack crumbs all over the floor!
I stopped in the doorway.
“What are you doing? Aren't you coming in?”
“Oh, there's stuff all over my suitcase wheels.”
“Come on, we're all guys here.”
As he said it, another shower of snack crumbs hit the floor.
“Ah…… Mr. Han is sharing the room too.”
The two guys burst out laughing at once.
“Mr. Han? Hey, Sang-yun's super nice~”
“Seriously.”
Sang-yun was nice. Of course he was.
But would he be nice even in this pigsty?
I was carefully wiping my suitcase wheels with the wet wipes I'd brought when the door opened again.
“……Wow.”
A low, stifled exclamation. No, it sounded less like amazement and more like his soul leaving his body.
Han Sang-yun froze before he could even close the door. The light in his usually sparkling eyes went out for the first time.
‘Right. Cleaning was your hobby. To a pathological degree.’
Sang-yun was a cleaning fanatic. His idea of relieving stress was a thorough cleaning session or doing laundry.
At a fan signing, when someone asked what he wanted for his birthday, he'd answered ‘cleaning tools’ without a moment's hesitation.
‘I really thought he was out of his mind back then.’
“You guys are…… more relaxed than I expected.”
His voice was gentle. Somehow, though, it sent a chill down my spine.
“You left it like this on purpose, right?”
There it was. Han Sang-yun's trademark: cutting someone down with a smile.
“To show how ‘real’ a trainee dorm is?”
You might wonder if he was scolding them, but then his warm smile would leave you confused.
“Ah…… Sorry, Sang-yun.”
“We were just taking a break…….”
“No, no. You were thinking of the show, right?”
The corners of his mouth rose another notch. Beneath that smile lay the jab that there was no way they'd be this filthy unless they were setting up a scene for the cameras.
He nodded as if he understood and turned toward me. At the same time, of course, the two guys frantically began tidying their suitcases.
A man who could move everyone with a single remark: that was Han Sang-yun.
“……Seong-woo.”
“Yes?”
“Are you…… wiping your suitcase wheels?”
“Yes. I don't want to dirty the floor.”
His eyes lit up. It was as if he'd found the only glimmer of hope amid the chaos.
‘I knew it.’
Everyone had said he was the hardest man to get close to: kind, but with an invisible wall around him.
In truth, all it took to get close to him was one wet wipe.